1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing fried foods such as fried noodles, fried potato chips, fried corn chips, fried nuts, fried crackers and the like, and more particularly to a method of producing fried foods which are resistant to oil oxidation and have an improved shelf life.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the production of fried foods such as fried noodles, potato chips, fried crackers and the like, a frying oil containing a synthetic antioxidant such as BHA (butylhydroxy anisole) has hitherto been used in order to prevent oxidation of oil in the fried foods to improve the shelf life thereof. However, the use of such synthetic antioxidants as BHA is strictly restricted with respect to addition amount, kind of foods to be fried with and the like according to food regulations.
For this reason, it has also been proposed to add tocopherol (vitamin E), vitamin C, a mixture of tocopherol and melanoidin, citric acid or the like as an antioxidant to frying oil. However, the addition effect of such antioxidants is fairly poor as compared with that of BHA.
Consequently, there is a need for natural antioxidants giving a higher antioxidation effect to suppress oil oxidation with time in fried foods to an extent equal to or higher than BHA.